


Twenty Seconds or Twenty Years

by PanicFOB



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 07:09:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20701955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanicFOB/pseuds/PanicFOB
Summary: Steve encounters one of his new neighbors on his way to the grocery store one day. Inspired by the lyrics of Lover by Taylor Swift.





	Twenty Seconds or Twenty Years

Steve had just unpacked the last box in his new house. It was a small two-bedroom place with a nice back yard, he was hoping to get a dog pretty soon, and it was only a thirty-minute drive from the compound. Bucky was currently staying in his spare room, but he kept telling Steve he had his eye on a house going up for sale just across the street. The one he was referring to had a large front porch with a swing bench, and Steve suspected that if Bucky did buy it, he’d become the resident grumpy old man of the neighborhood, sitting from the porch and grumbling at anyone who dared take a step on his front lawn.

“How do we never have a damned thing to eat around here,” the aforementioned grumpy old man said while standing in front of the deserted refrigerator.

Steve jumped up from the living room floor and dusted his hands off. “I was just about to walk down to the grocery store. Wanna join me?”

“I’ll pass. The new episode of Desperate Housewives is coming on soon.”

“I still can’t believe you watch that show.”

“And I can’t believe you watch The Bachelor. Get over yourself, Stevie.”

He rolled his eyes as he pulled on his brown leather jacket. “Anything, in particular, you want me to grab from the store?”

“Plums,” Bucky told him as he plopped down onto the couch and grabbed the TV remote off the coffee table.

The grocery store was only a few blocks away, and Steve really enjoyed taking strolls through this quaint little neighborhood that he could now call home. After walking about three blocks, he approached a woman standing up on a tall ladder propped against the side of her house and dangerously reaching out to grab her Christmas lights.

Steve instantly grew worried that she would fall and injure herself. “Ma’am, would you like some help with those? You seem to be having trouble reaching them,” he called from the street.

She climbed down from the ladder and got a good look at him. “Does Captain America help all the citizens of New York with their Christmas lights?”

He blushed a bit and smiled. “Only the lucky few.”

“Well, I’ll remember this day always,” she joked, “but yes, I would appreciate some help.”

He walked onto the yard and approached the ladder. As he started to climb, he asked, “Where would you like me to set them after I’ve taken them down?”

“Taken them down? Oh no, I was just replacing some of the bulbs.” She held out her palm that was full of tiny new bulbs. “Here ya go.”

Steve raised one eyebrow at her. “But it’s the tenth of January.”

“First, you tell me I should be so lucky to receive your help, and now, you want to pass judgment on my decorating decisions despite knowing me all of twenty seconds. You’re a piece of work, Captain.”

He couldn’t tell if she was entirely joking, and he felt a bit bad. “I wasn’t passing judgment, I assure you. It’s just a bit… unique to leave your lights up for very long after Christmas.”

“Do you take everything everyone says seriously? I was only teasing,” she grinned up at him from the ground.

“Right,” he said as he got to work changing out the bulbs that needed it. “Why do you keep them up, though?”

She gave a whimsical sigh. “You know that feeling that’s in the air all through December? That lively spirit. The sweets and the giving and the singing and the coziness and the cheer?”

“I’m familiar, yes,” Steve informed her, trying to figure out where this explanation might be going.

“In December, people are always so joyful and thankful, and then the second that New Year’s is over, they turn into miserable workaholics once again. They set their resolution that they never actually keep, and they go back to being the ghosts of themselves that never really live and enjoy things. The holiday season brings out the thrill of living in people, and I guess I’m just trying to remind them that it should still be there even after the New Year. So, every year, I keep my lights up until the end of January.”

“Huh, that’s actually a really nice way of thinking about it.” She beamed up at him as he said it. “Or…. You’re just too lazy to take your lights down, and you’re using that as a noble excuse.”

She then punched the calf of his leg that was at her eye level. “You’re a dick, Captain America.”

He chuckled and slowly climbed back down the ladder, seeing as he had already replaced all the burned-out bulbs. “Please, call me Steve.”

“Fine. You’re a dick, Steve.” She gave a pout, but he could see the playfulness in her eyes and knew she wasn’t really upset. “So, do you always walk around the neighborhood alone like a creeper, or…?”

“What? No! I wasn’t being a creeper. I was walking to the grocery store.”

“Oh! I actually need to go to the store today too. Let me just grab my bag!” She ran inside her house, and Steve was left standing there quite amused and perplexed. He didn’t even know her name yet, and this woman was acting like they’d known each other for twenty years. He kind of loved it. She was rather quirky and cute, and Steve thought how he might have been the lucky one today to discover such an interesting woman living in the very same neighborhood as him.

She appeared at her front door once more, holding several large reusable shopping bags on her arm. She locked up her house and did a weird sort of skip over to where Steve was standing. “Ready?” she asked him.

“You’re sort of strange, you know that?” he teased her.

“And you’re a dick. Yes, we’ve already established this, Steve.”

He snorted and shook his head.

“Where do you live, anyway?”

“Now who’s the creeper? Asking where I live when we only just met.”

“You know where I live, so it’s a fair question. Besides, I’m very clearly not a murderer or a stalker.”

“And me being Captain America doesn’t make it very clear that I’m not a murderer?”

“Nope. I’m Y/N, by the way. In case you were wondering.”

“That’s a beautiful name, Y/N.”

And so they walked to the grocery shop together, and Steve helped her carry her bags home. And then he invited her over to have lunch with him and Bucky, but she said that she didn’t trust his cooking skills, so she invited them over to her place for lunch instead.


End file.
